News media weren’t allowed to sit in on Tuesday's by-invitation session. However, a spokesman for TPI and its CEO Tom Torgerson previously shared with The News-Press its concept for Beaches Gateway Village.

Tim Malbon, managing general partner at Best Western Plus Beach Resort Hotel, attended the meeting.

“It looks like a great concept to help with the affordable housing issue and the staffing issue as well,” Malbon said, adding: “I think every business on (Estero) Island is having staffing issues."

Marty Harrity, restaurant owner and former Sanibel Mayor also was impressed. “What I think is great is the commitment this company has made to this area. That is gold.”

Beaches Gateway Village will sit on about 15 acres along Pine Ridge Road and San Carlos Boulevard, on the mainland south of Fort Myers. The location features decent proximity to Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel and Captiva islands, a Publix supermarket and a Walmart – and LeeTran’s Park & Ride station with trolleys serving the Beach.

TPI’s plan is still evolving. However, the one shared with Tuesday’s focus group envisions 90 multifamily apartments, each of which could be divided into four living quarters for a total of 360 “co-living units.”

Units would be rented to individual tenants, who would share a common area including a fully equipped kitchen, furnished living room, laundry nook and balcony patio with two to six others.

It's much like those found in college dormitories, although configurations here would range from a one-bed, one-bath unit to a four-bed, two-bath “family quad.”

The site plan also shows a hotel which TPI believes would attract travelers who want to be near the Gulf, but don’t want to pay the higher beach room rates.

Following the meeting, TPI Chairman Tom Torgerson said the group “gave us a lot to think about, to tweak (the housing plan) and to make it better.”

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Ebony Lee looks forward to being free of the Jones Walker housing project in Fort Myers. She hopes a Section 8 voucher will afford her something better. But will it? The city is is trying to get 80 vouchers so every Jones Walker can move.
Patricia Borns, pborns@news-press.com

Gucciardo offered one small example: Some attendees suggested outfitting bedrooms with mini fridges, to possibly head-off issues over the shared common-area refrigerator.

Bigger picture, there’s the question of whether the current plan has enough family-oriented space, and whether the project can stay affordable if the share of space allocated to families increases.

As of now the company estimates Beaches Gateway Village’s base rent for single occupancy would be $800 or $550 per person, double occupancy. That would include utilities and internet, furnishings, a free shuttle to Fort Myers Beach and easy access elsewhere through LeeTran.

A starting rate for family rental quarters has yet to be determined, Gucciardo said.

After making some tweaks, TPI aims to hold another focus group at a future date.

Company leaders hope to submit its application for the off-Beach development to Lee County in March.

Earlier this year, Beach resident Chris Patton filed two lawsuits against the town over the council's unanimous approvals of rezonings and code deviations that gave Torgerson and TPI Hospitality the green light to build a 242-unit hotel with restaurants, shops, a water park and other amenities on and off the Gulf of Mexico.

That has put off the Gulf-side development – intended to start in early 2019 – for at least several months.